Mitt Romney’s shift from a mild and meek support of abortion rights to his current loud and strong opposition has been a topic of conversation for several months now. While he didn’t attend the forum, Governor Romney’s rivals are looking to exploit his inconsistency on the issue ahead of Tuesday’s South Carolina primary.

Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum have each signed a Personhood USA pledge stating that they would advocate laws defining life as beginning at conception and only appoint judges and officials who support that position.

All four were in rare form, courting evangelical and social conservative voters to further separate Romney from the party’s anti-choice base. Moderators asked each candidate at the forum a question related to Romney. Rick Perry was asked to differentiate his views from his rival’s. He quipped, “You don’t have enough time in here, seriously. Governor Romney’s been on both sides of the issue of life. This was a decision that Governor Romney made for political convenience, not an issue of his heart,” Perry said.

But Perry, who hasn’t always opposed abortion in all cases as he does now (he used to support rape and incest exceptions) described his own changing views as as a transformation not a flip-flop fro political convenience.

Perry’s out of the game, but all the candidates are united in their opposition to abortion rights, federal funding for abortion and Planned Parenthood, and what they consider overreaching by the courts on abortion-related issues. Gingrich and Santorum criticized Romney for language in the Massachusetts health insurance law that they said favors abortion-rights groups.

They also used the forum to attack Planned Parenthood (surprise) and the court system (also a surprise). Newt Gingrich claimed that he would “defund Planned Parenthood sometime in early 2013 if elected president,” while Paul said the organization “wouldn’t get any money” under his administration. Santorum and Perry pledged to veto any legislation that would include funding for Planned Parenthood and Ron Paul said the organization “wouldn’t get any money” under his administration.

As we’vecovered, Patel was convicted of two contradictory charges — of both intentionally terminating her pregnancy and delivering a live fetus and abandoning it — neither of which was supported by evidence. The state had no proof that she took abortion pills and no proof that the fetus was born alive. She has consistently said that she had a miscarriage.

“What the Patel case demonstrates is that both women who have abortions and those who experience pregnancy loss may now be subject to investigation, arrest, public trial and incarceration,”

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, which would establish a fund to raise money for victims from the fees charged to traffickers, wasn’t supposed to be controversial. It has supporters on both sides of the aisle and easily passed the House earlier this year. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have urged members of their parties to support the legislation.

But this week, top Democrats learned that the bill includes language ...

As an obstetrician-gynecologist I provide care for my patients during some of the most important and personal moments of their lives. I might go to the operating room in the morning to remove a mass from a patient’s ovary and that afternoon talk to a patient about the painful intercourse she is experiencing. The following day, I might be on Labor and Delivery and have the honor of being present when a patient delivers her baby. But the work I do that is most important to me is providing abortions.

It may seem strange that I consider this to be the most important part of my job. Out of ...

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

As an obstetrician-gynecologist I provide care for my patients during some of the most important and personal moments of their lives. I might go to ...